The concerns appear to be about how much control Microsoft wants to have over purchases of games and applications in its next full operating system.

According to the BBC, Mr Newell said: “There’s a strong temptation to close the platform…because they look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors’ access to the platform, and they say, ‘That’s really exciting.'”

“I’m skipping Windows 8 until Microsoft include an option to use the Windows 7 start menu and reduce the metro interface to a program, ala control panel,” he said.

“It’s like someone at Microsoft took their upcoming tablet interface designed for 7 inch touch sensitive devices, and insisted we’d want the same thing on our 24 inch monitors with mice and keyboards. No thank you Microsoft.”